Handling hydrogen

Your leader (In praise of... hydrogen, April 17) was welcome, but you seem unaware that a hydrogen refuelling plant for London's small fleet of hydrogen-powered buses, which ran on routes 25 and R1, has been at Hornchurch for years. Many vehicle-makers are aiming for storage of hydrogen by absorption in solids (eg modified graphite or metal hydrides) rather than as a liquid at -253C. Hydrogen was first used for lighting in London in 1809; my grandparents and parents used it for lighting and cooking; and it powered the bunsens in the labs where I taught. It was admittedly very impure hydrogen, only about 50%, and we called it coal gas; but if we could handle it without too many disasters using primitive technology for 160 years, we can certainly do so now. What is not widely known about the Hindenburg disaster is that nearly all those on the gondola who did not jump, but waited until it hit the ground and then ran, escaped because hydrogen and hydrogen flames go straight up.Martyn BerrySevenoaks, Kent